Special Thanks to Tommy: George & Gracie’s Landlord

IMPORTANT: Messages from osprey experts

Rob Bierregaard July 1, 2015 at 7:24 am
I haven’t seen the little guy yet this morning, but I would be very surprised if he survived the night. That sure was tough to watch yesterday, but that whole process is as much a part of the essence of being an Osprey as is eating a fish. It’s part of the life of Ospreys that was rarely seen before we started putting cameras in nests. As hard as it is, we should not label the behavior as mean or cruel. Being mean or cruel implies that there is intent to do harm just for harm’s sake. Those young were responding to a set of stimuli (very little food being delivered to the nest and the presence of a very small young) in a way that evolution has hard-wired into them. It helps ensure their survival. Nature is not cruel. It is harsh, unforgiving, and often random (had the little guy been born 1st, he would have been just as aggressive as was his sibling), but not cruel or mean.

Paul Henry ospreyzone July 1, 2015 at 8:17 am
Thanks Rob for bringing your knowledge and experience to help us all gain perspective here. We are all saddened by the events that unfolded before our eyes and it’s only natural for all of us to feel and express our emotions appropriately. There have been many issues pertaining to intervention which have been discussed amongst us all. There is no doubt in my mind that the right decision was made, to let nature take it’s course. By the way, that doesn’t equate to heartless, on the contrary, nobody feels worse about this then the apparent decision makers. I say apparent, because when all was said and done, and all the issues were properly weighed, there really weren’t any other options. It was clearly pointed out, by experts, that intervening at this stage could have spooked the whole nest to the point of losing all the young. If the little one was saved, and nursed back to health, what kind of a life would it have had, perhaps caged up in a zoo. I remember when I was younger I saw a golden eagle in captivity, caged behind a wire mesh. I could practically see it’s tears. As far as placing the little one in another nest, such a low probability of success would never have justified the possibility of spooking the nest. There’s a piece of me, however heavy hearted, that believes that perhaps it is better to be born free and die free. We mourn for the little one as we marvel at the wonders of nature.

Reprinted with the permission of John W. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Hello Paul,

Thanks for your query, and you have my admiration for persevering. We know very well how tough your job is, including dealing with an anxious public.

Our policy with our Bird Cams project is essentially “just say no” to pleas for interference. The behavior you are witnessing – while seemingly cruel and heartless to us – is natural for many kinds of birds, especially those that feed on variable, unpredictable food supplies. The little nestling does have a chance to survive, but if it does not then that result was “meant to be” by the nature of Osprey breeding strategy. The wonderful things about these nest cameras also sometimes yield the difficult things for us to watch. As you might know, we actually post a “siblicide alert” on some of our cams where we suspect the possibility exists.

I’m copying your note to Charles Eldermire, project leader for our Bird Cams. He may have some additional comments, and he would be the one to ask if we might be able to use your stored files for biological analysis.

It’s also important to acknowledge that intervening can also cause problems of its own—depending on the ages of the birds in the nest, disturbing them can trigger an early fledge. We have restricted the scenarios in which we would even consider intervening to injuries or dangers that are explicitly human-derived. For example, 3 or 4 years ago we were alerted by viewers that one of the osprey chicks at the Hellgate Osprey nest was entangled in monofilament line. We consulted with our partners there (wildlife biologists, raptor researchers, raptor rehabbers) to determine if the monofilament was an issue, and if intervening was both likely to solve the issue AND not have bad effects on the other nestlings. In the end, a quick trip to the nest was scheduled via a bucket truck, the monofilament was removed, and the nestlings all eventually fledged. In that case, all of the permits were already in hand to be studying the ospreys, and we had already discussed how to approach issues in the nest.

I’ve been to your site—great cam! And I noticed the runt in the nest. This is just normal Osprey reproduction. It happens all the time and you should not intervene. It’s tough to watch, but it’s how nature works. Ospreys almost always lay 3 eggs and on average fledge between 1 and 1.5 young each year. They stagger the hatch so there is a spread of ages in the young. That way, if food is short, the first-hatched (and therefore largest) will get enough food to survive while the smaller nest mates do not. If all three young were the same size and there was only enough food for 1 young, none of the young would get enough food and they would all die. If there’s lots of food, the smallest will eventually get fed and can survive. These nest cams can show some gut-wrenching scenes. The most infamous perhaps was one of the very first Osprey cams (on Long Island somewhere), where the smallest young died. One of the adults carried it out of the nest and after several minutes flew back into the nest and fed it to the other young. Waste-not-want-not at its goriest. At Hog Island up in Maine just last week a Bald Eagle came in and took the young out of the nest. Last year at another nest, cameras documented a Great-horned Owl taking young Ospreys out of a nest in NJ or MD. All of these things have been going on for millions of years and Ospreys are doing fine.

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Once our beloved birds return and Osprey Zone is in full swing, it would be nice if we refrain from posting artsy pics and doodles. The first year was all about Osprey and not photoshopped pics. During the winter it was refreshing to see the creativity and it brought some laughter. Please don’t take offense, I just prefer this site as a nature lover, not arts and crafts. 💚

Reply -Trinity you don’t have to read comments or look at the pictures if you want to just see the ospreys just watch the live cam no need to scroll down. This is why the live cam video is at the top of the page.

Remember the “bubble” that sometimes showed up in the G’s nest? The St. Pete-Achieva nest I watch has a rainbow dot that often gets in a shot, like a little guardian fairy. It made me think of the bubble, which made me think of Glenda the Good Witch in “Wizard of Oz”. Wasn’t that how she arrived @ OZ???? Maybe we were visited by pixie royalty??? (Teehee)

Our second bird is on the move! Holly, an adult female from Annapolis, MD, on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, set off on her first migration north wearing one of our transmitters. Hers is a GSM, or cell-tower radio. We only hear from her when she’s about 15 miles or closer from a cell-tower. During her fall migration we lost track of her going through Cuba–we can’t do business with Cuban cell-tower companies, so this is a black hole for our birds–and then had a brief download as she passed over Hispaniola, then nothing until she got to the far eastern tip of Brazil in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Her winter range included an area where she was in reach of a tower and another where she wasn’t. So we got a signal from her about once a month. In the end of February she moved into range of a tower and we began to get fairly regular messages. On the 14th or 15th she began the trip north. We’re missing the data from her trip south, so we don’t know exactly how she arrived, but the trip north should take her along the northern tier of South American countries to the Paraguana Peninsula on the eastern side of the Gulf of Venezuela.

Belle left the Rio Madeira on the 7th, 3 days later than her departure last year, but caught up a day by the time she across the Andes in Venezuela.

The spring migration has begun! Belle was the first out of the gates, leaving the Rio Madeira on 7 Mar, 3 days later than last year. The yellow tracks are the previous 5 spring migrations. As far as I know, no North American Osprey has made this many migrations with an active transmitter. (A colleague recently recovered an Osprey that had been carrying a non-communicative radio for over 20 years!). She flew about 20 miles from Staddler, an adult male from New Hampshire.

3/13/17 @12:30pm….Mom Nature keeping weather guessers on their toes as she shifts her buddy, Stella the storm. Now it looks like ONLY 8-12″ for the East End as opposed to the 18 and up still threatening the western 1/2. Supposed to come thru starting early a.m. tomorrow, as originally predicted, not the revised and reworked versions we’ve been hearing that it was starting today. Oh, almost forgot the lovely winds of up to 60mph gusts…rain/snow line south of us, so anything can happen……just hope we don’t lose power…..at least, I’m on vaca (I know, selfish-others still needing to travel,,,,,,)
It will be interesting to see the nest after this….AND making for a nail-biter as we are on George wait. Come on, MOM,,,give us a break! Tommy in particular!
Was checking on St. Pete nest last night and they were swaying in the wind, making me woozy……..on pip watch for that nest.
Everyone, HAGD!

Morning…..snowing on LI……..more predicted mid-week; subject to change at any moment, as this storm’s predictions every few hours. Hope anything planned for nest can go ahead. Positive thoughts being sent out. Please join in if ur not beaming them nestward already!

I’m having freezing issues(computer is) and started to post about this before, so if this pops up twice-sorry!
Have been watching a NATURE series on PBS. You can see them @pbs.org/nature , I believe, but was unable to copy&paste a link.It’s “Spy in the Wild” , about these incredible pseudo-animals made with cameras embedded, which are used to get incredible close-up videos. Ep.5 is about the technology behind it, if you want to start there…….Ingenious artistry…

There is also a program on Animal Planet, The Zoo, about the Bronx Zoo(and its affiliates) and its work in conservation, as well as behind the scenes happenings in day-to-day zoo care.
The first week introduced me to the malleefowl, a strange and unique bird that spends enormous energy preparing an incubation nest but the chicks get no parental care. I recommend this program too if you have the time. I doubt that there is a webcam, judging by the description of its habits, but here are a couple of links, if you want to check them out. Hope these work- issues with my buddy, the computer- { :[

Highly recommend Spy in the Wild on Nature series on pbs. Attempting to put link here, otherwise I think you can watch at PBS.org. Intricate spycams are produced just to get upclose and personal with a variety of animals. Episode 5 is a making-of explanation.If you have a bit of free time….enjoy
Not letting me copy&paste- I’m sure I’m missing something

1 hr ·
The Ospreys are coming! The Ft. Smallwood, MD, hawkwatch, which counts a lot each spring, has already seen one and there are a couple of sightings up in Mass. Belle started north last year on 4 March. She checks in tomorrow. I’ll be we see her on the move.

3-3-17 Reply- Emily I sent a video to all Osprey Zone Followers emails I had of the osprey in my backyard and they enjoyed it but noticed I do not have your email. If you want to email me my email is under my Gravatar pic of Gracie. Just saying 🙂

3-3-17 As we await our Osprey Family to come home and the Live Cam to get turned back on here is some info on migrating birds from Audubon –

Science
Researchers Identify the Hormone That Tells Migratory Birds to Stop Eating and Keep Moving
According to a new study, the same hormone that signals to humans we’ve eaten our fill triggers migrating birds to continue their trek.
By Jason G. Goldman
February 17, 2017

Just off the western coast of Italy sits a five-mile-long island called Ponza, which is all that remains of the caldera rim of an extinct volcano. Today, it’s an important re-fueling station for migratory songbirds, as it’s often the first stop they can make as they return to Europe after wintering in Africa. Arriving at Ponza after a non-stop flight over the Mediterranean, the birds show up ready to eat. But after gorging themselves and before taking off again, the birds engage in a frantic, curious behavior common to many migratory species and known to ornithologists by the German word zugunruhe.
“They behave in a funny way,” says Leonida Fusani, a biologist at the University of Vienna. “They flutter their wings and make little jumps. You can tell this behavior from any other type of nocturnal activity.”
Fusani studies the biological and environmental factors that drive billions of birds to migrate from their breeding grounds to their overwintering ranges in the tropics and back once again. Like other researchers, he’s long known that birds must fuel up before their long flights by packing on the pounds. But no one was sure how they knew when they had eaten enough to safely take off again. Research performed on poultry about a decade ago provided a clue: The hormone ghrelin, which signals to humans and other mammals that it’s time to stop eating, plays a similar role in chickens and quail.
Fusani knew that migrating birds exhibit signs of zugunruhe after they’ve stored up enough fat from their diet—or, in other words, when they’re full. So he suspected that ghrelin might also be involved in their migration, perhaps signaling when it’s time to keep moving. To test his idea, he captured Garden Warblers, small brown songbirds that actually prefer woodlands to gardens, when they arrived to rest near the ornithology research station on Ponza. A quick blood test showed that the birds with more body fat had higher levels of ghrelin in their bloodstreams compared to their leaner counterparts. That supported a clear link between hormone levels and the birds’ physical condition.
But Fusani still needed to see if ghrelin itself was implicated in zugunruhe; after all, there are many hormones involved in regulating foraging and migratory behaviors. So in a second study, he and his colleagues captured birds on the island and kept them in fabric-lined cages for one night to monitor their behavior. Some of the warblers were injected with ghrelin, while others were injected with a saline solution as a control.
Those birds whose ghrelin levels had been artificially boosted ate less, and also displayed the migratory restlessness that defines zugunruhe—clear-cut evidence that the hormone is tied to both appetite and migration. The study was published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“We think of migration as this spectacular, long flight through air, but most of the biology of migration is at these stopover sites,” says biologist Emily Cohen of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, who was not involved in the study. “This is really strong evidence” that ghrelin is the physiological link between appetite and migration, she says.
The potential implications of this research extend beyond just better understanding how birds migrate. Migratory songbirds rapidly gain and then lose some 50 percent of their body mass in fat as they prepare for and recover from migrations. Thanks to the similarities in the physiology that underlies appetite regulation in mammals and birds, Fusani thinks that these birds might ultimately prove useful as model organisms for the study of obesity and other metabolic disorders in humans. Which might make you look at the birds stuffing their bills at your backyard feeder in a whole new light.

Hi, Everyone- Happy Spring-ish to all. We have had some early warm weather here on LI, but it’s heading seasonal again. If warm for too long, our flowering plants rush to bloom, which can be a problem, especially fruit producers. I guess most of you know about that.

Anxious to see nest. I know it will be rebuilt, but curious to see what’s left. The Verizon nest of Vic and Vera ( by where I work in Cutchogue) has lost most of the visible branches, with just the more central structure poking up. Between the snow a couple weeks back and some fairly high wind days, a lot of trees and big limbs have come down all around. Clearing out the old to make way for new: Mom Nature on a cleanse!

HI RJONEAL- yes, I check out all you recommend.Always appreciate you! Getting quite a library of sites I check in on- several osprey, eagle, Bermuda cahow, ass’t animal sites- all the while waiting to begin G&G watch. Guess we’re on Betsy watch, too! Thinking about her and hoping all is well.
TTY soon – looking forward to hearing from everyone.

3-1-17 Reply- CarolV will since she did not reply to my emails I take it Betsy does not want to be found.
Hi CarolV, glad to know you are keeping busy watching all the nature you can until our family comes home. I cant wait either! Looking at the the 2 baby ospreys at Pink Shell just makes me think about our family. Especially since our Live Cam is the best and so are our Osprey Zone Family and Followers. It wont be long starting in about a week or so we should be seeing the 1st of the ospreys returning back home. Then we will be on lookout for our George then Gracie.

2-25-17 Pink Shell has a Baby Osprey, Achieva still laying on eggs ospreys that live in my backyard have eggs. I cant wait till George and Gracie have their babies. All the eaglets at NEFL American Eagles, and SFEC here in Florida are all growing up so quick.

2-22-17 Emily this pic I posted before but it is one of my favs,
Brutus and Gracie 7-28-16 Brutus trying to copy Gracie in her feather duster position but takes it to a whole new level looking like a hand feather duster.

2-25-17 Reply- George was identified on the nest on March 24 and Gracie arrived on April 2 are the official dates. But yes we did suspect that was George around 3-23-16.
Do you have one of the calendars Alazarin made for everyone? All the dates of last 2 Seasons of events like eggs laid, hatching, first fish, fledging, leaving and arriving are all on there. I helped her with calendar so if you email her or me we can send it to you if you like. My email is under my Gravatar.

Dawn below is what Aidan posted about the cam being off.
Aidan December 30, 2016 at 10:42 am – Reply
Hi All!

Hope you’re all doing well. Tommy let me know that the camera will be offline for some time this winter for repairs. I’m not sure exactly how soon it will be back, but definitely by the time our ospreys return. In the meantime, the comments section will be open as usual, and I’ll see if there’s anything I can put up in place of the stream.

Osprey Hug to you, missing all the action of watching our Ospreys. Keep in touch !

Reply- kll this is what Aidan posted on site.

Aidan December 30, 2016 at 10:42 am – Reply
Hi All!

Hope you’re all doing well. Tommy let me know that the camera will be offline for some time this winter for repairs. I’m not sure exactly how soon it will be back, but definitely by the time our ospreys return. In the meantime, the comments section will be open as usual, and I’ll see if there’s anything I can put up in place of the stream.

Morning, everyone! Haven.t checked postings yet……just wanted to say it’s a relatively warm (high 50s) day on ELI, NY. The sounds of spring greeted me when I opened the door to let the dog out. Numerous bird calls, dominated by the local mockingbird, prob marking out his territory. Just a matter of weeks, not months, till the nail-biting watch for our couple; anxious to see if it is, indeed, out beloved George and Gracie who come to this nest…………….
Now to see what’s new…….

BRE- inspiring, as always………
RJoneal- I missed that news about Rob’s book- thanks for the update…and HI!
CHRISTIAN-sorry to see not much has been done for the osprey nest situation out by you. but as we see daily, individual human rights(i.e. Dakota Pipeline’/ Sioux Tribe Water Rights Protest-)- get little respect. Haven’t seen anything in Suffolk Times, either, unless I just missed it.. Did you contact them? Don’t know that I’d lead with the mayor’s salary argument, tho…………….

2-21-17 Reply CarolV I heard you were having a bit of a heatwave for about a week and then it is going to get cold again. Enjoy the nice weather. I miss everyone and our osprey family. Hope Tommy comes home early. Do not know if Betsy will join us again or not she never did respond which is not like her at all. Hopefully she is just taking a break until they come home. I did send 1 more email to her to let her know we are here. It has been in the 80s here in Florida and I have been watching my Ospreys mate in the backyard and even saw the hawks mate in the pine tree. Then the other day 1st time I saw 2 doves on my fence mating by the bird feeders. That was funny to watch but the beautiful blueish gray feathers were so pretty. The blue heron is still around but I have not seen a mate for him or her yet. All the baby woodpeckers finally are flying around and eating seeds from my backyard along with the baby white egrets that hang out in the weeping willow dead tree I had to keep since woodpeckers are living in it.
Did you ever click on the Florida Osprey video link I posted ?
Missing our Osprey Family, Osprey Hugs !

2-15-17 Aidan or Paul you still with us? Do you know if there is going to be a highlight from last Season and update the site???? I know you both are very busy but if there is anything I can do to help to make it happen let me know, you have my info and email but just in case you can get email under Gravatar as well. Hope to hear back soon.

Their joint return…
I hope to see you there
As she approached
Her yellow eyes glared at him
Wings arched high..
Fledge in a different path
They plan another season here
Soon,They arrive back home again
Like the tide, and the day
That love will find it’s way.

Happy Valentines Day to all…
Rjoneal. Thank you for links..lov the moon picture and all that you post
Emily…enjoy so much your creative pictures
CarolV..we got 12 inches..then on Sat everything was iced…Rjoneal told me to take pics n I didn’t.
Love to all….

Early Friday – February 10, 2017 – The American Eagle Foundation (AEF) plans to retrieve the eaglet “Peace” the from its wild nest in Northeast Florida.

On February 6, 2017, AEF NEFL Remote Camera Operators alerted AEF officials Al Cecere and Gretchen Butler about the balance problems the 7 week old eaglet was exhibiting. After closely monitoring the eaglet via live streaming nest cams for hours, we noticed black monofilament (commonly used for fishing) wrapped around the left foot, including the hallux. Shortly after the discovery of the fishing line, the female parent “Juliet” appeared to be pulling and tugging on a clump of moss while going after a piece of food, and it is believed that the parent had removed the line from the eaglet’s foot.

Once the fishing line was identified, AEF immediately began talking to USFWS and making plans to rescue “Peace.” We were beyond excited that this problem seemed to have been resolved without the need for human intervention which is rather rare when fishing line enters a nest. So, thereafter, our plans were to continue to monitor the eaglet, but then a storm rolled through the area knocking power out for almost 24 hours. The electricity was restored on February 8, at which time it was immediately noticed that “Peace” was still having significant balance problems.

A decision was made on the evening of February 8 to continue plans for the rescue, which will hopefully take place early in the morning on February 10, 2017 – at which time our cams will be taken offline.

“Peace” will be taken to the Audubon Raptor Center for a complete medical checkup and assessment.

2-9-17 To all those who are suffering from either storms,tornado’s, or winter snow blizzards, keep the faith things will get better and our hearts feel for you during this difficult time.
Wish I could see what it looks like at our Osprey Nest in Long Island. I know there are a couple people who live near by if you are still with us can you give us an update on if the nest, is still there or post a pic of the snowy area?
We had some tornado’s around my area in Florida but we were lucky no damage from the storms in my neighborhood.

Checking in…..blizzard going on outside….stayed home(phony crying sounds insert here)…..laying down 2-3 in. per hour in some places. Yesterday was about 50deg. Schizo weather! …. 12-14′ predicted.
Gonna see if I can find a good pic to post, with sunshine……………..

I think I’ve been watching the eagle cams too long. Here’s why….. when I look at the Pink Shell Osprey cam I can’t help thinking that her beak is so small…Or I suppose she may be a different [breed] than our G & G, but I swear her beak is smaller than the G’s. [and compared to the eagle’s, it IS] Am I crazy ?

Hi to everyone! Good to run thru all the imaginative posts! All fresh new ways to see our family, plus an introduction to the warm lands of Rjoneal and our Florida friends. Much as I love our hardy winter feathered friends- just a little “jelly” of the gorgeous varieties visiting them!
Once again, sad to see someone needing to criticize and belittle others. As long as Aidan doesn’t mind posting, why wouldn’t people find new ways to showcase the G’s? As June c points out, when the G’c return, we will be back to featuring them in the conventional ways.
Rjoneal- love, <3<3 the pandas, too! Poor overworked stuffed toys!
For anyone wanting an unusual bird to check out …… https://www.facebook.com/groups/148759122286777/?fref=nf
…………………………………………………………………………Bermuda Cahows@Cornell Lab really interesting….I had never heard of them
All the tributes to Leif were excellent! And I couldn't even cut and paste at the time!

2-2-17 Reply- Emily see even Rob B. liked your project you did of Leif. I know you just had to one up CarolV and I since we posted pics w/info you got fancy. Love it, glad I let him know how much we all care about our ospreys no matter were they are.
Love our Osprey Family and Followers

2-6-17 Reply- Emily of course, I can not wait to see what we all create when our family comes home. Not to much longer. Well a lil bit longer but almost there.
Big Osprey Hug to you for sticking it out and overlooking the negative and keeping a positive outlook towards moving on into the future.

Here is a video of Florida Ospreys from My Back Yard Birding and this is what I see everyday in my back yard. Usually the ospreys around me do not stay on the pine trees too long, just long enough to get a view of a fish then down to the lake they go and they move so fast.

Published on Feb 1, 2017
Male Osprey territory/mating calls from the Backyard – doesn’t get any closer than this – and this time the sun and view angle was near perfect. Note that the eye lids actually close and the tongue sticks out when he hits those big high notes. Amazing is an over-used word, but this one fits the bill. Like most big raptors he could care less about the people down below – this is his land! February is mating and nest building season in Florida – one day maybe they will pick a nest spot nearby. At various times you can hear the squirrels alarming as they have yet to figure out they are not on his menu – fresh sushi only please!

Hi Osprey-Zoners!
A belated Happy New Year to all.
RJO sent me a bunch of the tributes you all made for Leif. Thanks for that. I didn’t know your group was following our migrating flock, but then I realized, of course you would be! Won’t be long before the birds are heading home. I’m in the middle of the Ospreytrax mid-winter update which will go out later this week. If you’re not a subscriber already, there’s a link to click on Ospreytrax.com to subscribe to the periodic updates.
I’m sure we’ll be chatting soon when G&G come home NEXT MONTH!!

Good to see all the creative posts! Now we know the reason behind that Mona Lisa smile! She loves osprey, too!
Like the “Dances With Wiper” recreation………(nickname for those plastic strips, for anyone who doesn’t know)…was really funny

since not posting as often, adding now….February 10th Full Snow Moon 7:33 pm …Aka Full Hunger Moon
And a VALENTINE hello

Weather here has been surprisingly good. After scary predictions, we had a cold spell early, some come-and-go snow and seasonable temps, tending towards cloudy but warmish. Now February screaming at us- January a speeding blur- while we fill in our wait for the G’s with feet tapping and other webcam watching.
Hope everyone well.

2-13-17 Reply- Helen yes it is thank you for looking and commenting. I am getting things ready and doing my to do lists now so when our George and Gracie come home I can watch, I miss them so much. Glad you are still checking in with us.

oops Osprey zone label got placed incorrectly, oh well like CarolV was saying my computer is wanting to cut and paste in its own way have no idea how it got moved up, I know human error but really easier to blame computer right.

-1-17 Reply- Helen thanks for thinking of me all well here. The hawks will eat baby birds but around here unless the baby ospreys are left unattended they do not usually approach the osprey nest when there are babies in it. The hawks do not want to have to fight for their meal and their is usually plenty to pick from much easier to get. I think they will be ok if parents stay around the nest till they are big enough to fledge. Keep us posted on you hawks and ospreys around your area.
Soon our family will be home.

People are having fun with pictures…I think they are very creative…will not be able to do this when George & Gracie come back. It’s a great web site…nothing happening at nest so you should enjoy the art talent..

SORRY – maybe it’s my fault because I kept posting gifs. But some people like this high school art project.
We find the birds inspirational. If you don’t like the artsy renderings, you could just stare at the blank web cam.
I do apologize that you are annoyed, however. I’m probably going to stop making them anyway.

2-1-17 Reply- Emily my dear osprey lover, do not apologize for your creativity. Many of us who are still posting have all stated we enjoy your postings. Just lIke you said if you do not like to look at it you can watch the blank screen or just not not read comments. The birds are not here right now so it is time for us to be creative and remember are osprey family. Do not stop due to one person making a comment and for that matter it does not matter if it is a 100 people. This is a public space Paul has provided for us right now while our ospreys are on vacation. The site provides lots of info along with our pics.
Love our Osprey Family and Followers!

2-1-17 Reply-Gracey, Happy New Year to you also. Sorry you felt the need to post that comment. Do not mean to sound harsh but it has to be said. The birds, our Osprey family is not here and the screen is blank so if you do not like to look at the pics do not read the comments. This is a public space and some people are just being creative using pictures of the osprey family to keep the memory going. Many of us enjoy this while they are gone.
This is still a web cam on Ospreys but we like to share other info as well. For example Rob B. our Osprey Specialist recently gave an update so many of us wanted to post something about Leif may he rest in peace. The work that is being done on ospreys by people like Rob and his students is how we learn.
Yes, we all agree our Osprey family is beautiful but they are not live right now and the cam is off.
Hoping you still watch when George and Gracie come home but I can pretty much tell you now that this past year and present year will have creative pics and videos of our Osprey Family. Especially when Betsy starts posting again. She has made a lot of creative pics in the past so I am sure she has learned some new stuff over the winter to show us.
Love our Osprey Family and Followers!

1-27-17 Happy Friday -I forgot to mention in the St.Augustine photo posted 1-18-17 you can see how the deck is still destroyed and the boat is not functional they are still waiting for Hurricane insurance to send check to repair even though FEMA already approved still waiting, for now it has to stay like it is. So many others still doing repairs from last hurricane as well.
I do not have that view in my back yard but I have a pretty good view so I can not complain. I have seen this view on post cards here in Florida the sun and water part.

For those of you that cannot wait until the latter part of March (like me!!!) for our family to return, the Osprey Nest at Pink Shell in Florida has some eggs. They may just tide us over! https://www.pinkshell.com/resort/osprey-cam See you all soon!!

1-27-17 Reply- Dawn, do not mean to sound mean or ugly at all please do not take wrong but if you would review previous post you would see that as soon as they started mating and even before that everyone has been talking about it for over a month along with other osprey nest. Thanks for sharing info. If you look at previous post you might find how most of us are watching ospreys nest and of course the Eagles so many cute eaglet babies. Not to mention Emily’s and others pics along with CarolV posting and Bob posted a pic of himself w fish and I posted a pic from the Osprey Luncheon of 3 people more attended, Emily posted pic of Canada were she lives. Lots of New Year posts and so much info has been posted in the last month if you have time to look back.
Sorry if this seems not nice I know you just wanted to be nice and share for those who missed the last month I guess it is new to them right? 🙂
I love our Osprey Family and Followers!

I’m not here on a daily basis during the off season. You have to admit, it’s a little hard to sift though the entire blog and all the beautiful pictures looking to see if someone else mentioned Pink Shell. However, consider it noted. I’d certainly hate to be repetitive. I was just looking to share my excitement with you all. See you all in March!

2-2-17 Reply-Dawn,
I am truly sorry if I offended you. I know it’s hard going through the pages to see if things have been mentioned in the past I myself have been repetitive and info and pictures. I didn’t mean for it to sound that way I am truly sorry I should have just not responded.
Please continue to check in and stay with us this is a wonderful Osprey family and wonderful Osprey followers.

Dawn
February 3, 2017 at 10:32 am

No worries. I love this page and all our family! Looking forward to our family’s return! See you all soon.

I don’t know whether it’s me or the computer, but having cut&paste issues……..but the news is not good….Rob B posted that it appears the last of his this-years’ NF batch of young tagged osprey has been lost…Leif, the adventurous, has shown no recent signs of movement and is suspected deceased. No speculation as to cause or whether the transmitter wil be recovered. Our condolences to Rob and the loss to his project. Best wishes to continued success with the adults still being followed from your NF group.

1-27-17 Reply-CarolV I read this too very sad I really had high hopes for Leif with all his adventures. Just can not believe all the young and no survivors that they know of. This is what always makes me nervous about our George and Gracie until I see them come back to the nest I am a wreck. We always want more us humans and I would love for our G&G to outlive me haa. Just makes me kinda glad we do not tag our babies this way in my mind they are living free,and someday will come back to LI and have a family of their own.

RIP- Leif, you have taught us so much and will never be forgotten,thank you for the time you gave us, you touched our hearts and souls.

RJONEAL- I’m member on fb page for achieva nest…and they are starting a page for Pink Shell…so many nests, so little time! Have a couple I check, along with a couple eagle cams as well as general sites, like explore.org and crow.org, etc.

1-27-17 CarolV I hate FB but happy you found it to be enjoyable for you. Yes, I have always been a fan of Explore and Rob B. I found them first thats how I learned about our Rob B. Lately I can not take my eyes of the Panda babies in China in the snow so many of them hilarious to watch them play.

If you want to watch something like an Osprey Comedy, go to Ontario Osprey and watch the Mom moving an L-shaped stick around over and over and over again. It is hilarious. Thanks be to God the babies were not hurt. I wonder what was bothering the Mom. Rodee

2-1-17 Reply- Elaine thanks for commenting on pic. It wont be to much longer before we start watching for George and Gracie to come home March and April . I can not wait.
Love our Osprey Family and Followers!

1-17-17 Reply-Emily YEAH ! You did it, you made a Gravatar and I just love your neighbors dog. Looks like white German Sheppard maybe? Anyways he is a cutie. I have 2 dogs my Samoyed and German Sheppard but I have to keep my Gracie the Feather- Duster for my pic. Thanks, this will make it so easy to find your post during the season when posting gets real busy. 🙂

1-17-17 Reply- Helen by the time you posted an answer I have seen them mate many times and today I saw 1 beautiful osprey egg in the nest at Pink Shell. Thanks for your response, not being sarcastic really thanks for answering. Here is hoping there will be one more osprey baby to fledge, to make a more beautiful world to live in.
Love Our Ospreys and Followers!

1-19-17 Reply-Helen 1st of all by the time you saw them mating they probably mated other times outside the nest. 2nd of all a viewer of this nest has a video on You-Tube showing her lay the Egg on 1-16-17. 3rd of all Last Year at Pink Shell it is on there on website and there is videos of this also Egg laid end of December and 1st hatch was on 2-29-16 so she seems to be running on track with last year give or take a little.
There was comment about not tending to egg as much but folks it is average 50-60s and highs in 80s most days here. The egg does not need to be laid on all the time it is hot enough. There are eagles in Fort Myers but I have not heard of any around Pink Shell could be wrong.

Sadly, the egg is gone. It was there at 7:40 am 1/19/17, and gone by 9:30vam. I didn’t see the attack, but did see some of the shell remnants in the upper part of the nest. Hopefully, more eggs on the way!

Just a fly by January Hello to my osprey friends!
I am missing them so much- driving around here seeing the big empty nests just waiting for their owners to return.
I hope everyone is well.
Today is January 17. The ospreys of Long Island start to appear on March 17. Not long now….
ginam

1-19-17 Reply -GinaM if you are still there thanks for checking in I just posted a shout out for you. Are you watching the eagles? I saw the video from Janet Adams on Facebook and she did a magnificent job and there is a Gina on there.
Osprey Hugs!

1-16-17 Here you go CarolV another Osprey nest in Florida even though I hate to post on OZ guess it is ok since everyone talks about Pink Shell this is just another one. There are several at 5 in Florida that have live cams. You might like this better than Pink Shell until our family comes home.

EMILY_ your dancing heart frames took me by surprise! Was used to Rj’s frame so when OZ opened up to the sparkling hearts, I thought the old eyes were failing! (why not? Everything else on the fritz!) Very creative! Love the little hearts flying between th love-birds!
Nice to see a shot from Canada. Like LI, so many different views! We have phone poles, only PSEG replacing standard poles with bigger uglier ones that often lean and require additional poles to stabilize them. They must have stock in the pole making business. This was brought up by Chris H (I believe) when it was mentioned that there is a long standing osprey nest that may be destroyed when a new power line is run out in Greenport ( town east of OZ nest.)—-{{for some reason, one of my crazy cats has decided she has to sit on my arm and clean my finger-lunch memories, I guess. Pardon any wonky typing-}} Haven’t heard anymore about this nest lately.
Two local villages on the South Fork of LI stood up tp the power company years back and forced them to put the lines underground when they went trhu historic downtown areas- towns date from the 1600-1700’s ( not necessarily buildings, of course) and are more affluent than most in this area. Most towns don’t bother fighting “progress”. To RJONEAL-would love to have those pole free views, too, but we don’t have the frequency of hurricanes. More cost effective, I guess, to roll the dice and make do with tree trimming.

Thanks, CarolV! I love all the pictures posted here – Occasionally, I like to play around with them. A few years ago, I started a “photo” blog – pics taken with cell phones… I haven’t posted much lately, but you can find them here if you are interested, emxxx4.blogspot.com …Well, I hope the osprey nest doesn’t get destroyed! That’s terrible. Please keep me posted.
*sighs* I don’t like seeing the electrical wiring… no one here is protesting them…

1-17-17 reply- CarolV here, here, there is always pros and cons for all situations and in this case what state you live in. Hurricanes yes but I will take it to live in this beautiful state with so much nature around me. It brought me back to my childhood growing up in Nebraska looking at Emily’s picture with the poles and that is a good memory.

1-17-17 Reply- Isobel you are always so nice, thanks for checking in again and posting. Around March I get so much anxiety until I see George and Gracie back home building the nest.
They just have so far to travel and so many ospreys do not make the trips so until I see them again I am like a worried mother. I just know they will make me jump up and down and probably cry when I see them, I cant wait. 🙂
Osprey Hug to you!

1-17-17 Reply- Trinity I am just counting down the days till I can start watching for them to return. My Ospreys in backyard at the lake are running late this winter on having a baby. The male just did his sky-dancing and has been bringing fish to the nest to female but she takes it and leaves. They have been very vocal so hopefully they are bonding and soon babies.
So far the New Year is good but until I see my G&G it wont be complete. Osprey Hug to you !

And in all honesty, my “snide” remarks are usually the “taken out of context” kind, where print doesn’t convey tone. Used up most of my snide this fall——no politics intended here………..was enough idiocy to spread on all agendas! And now back to the birds!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone watching Pink Shell? I see June c is! seemingly the Kardashian tape version! Guess we’ll be having an egg watch soon! Can’t get as interested in other sites. No one has the intimacy this nest does. Watching SWFL eagles and Oz and Harriet sporadically. And the Decorah eagles pop up on my fb page, in their snowy nest. Get a variety of beautiful pictures thru explore.org on fb. All interesting! Recommend it highly.

We did hit 51 this afternoon. What a change from the teens just a couple of mornings ago! Needless to say, most of snow is gone-toodle-loo- and I’ve lost my excuse for not taking down hol. lights….sigh………..

Just a hello to everyone still posting……love hearing what everyone else is up to……….thank you, AIDAN, for sticking with us !!We appreciate all you do!

A very strange thing happened to me today – I passed the Osprey Nest on the road to my house and there was a bird sitting in it. It looked like a Osprey – same size and coloration. I took a pic with my phone but he flew away. Is that possible? Maybe it was another bird…..

For CarolV: Lot of Ospreys in Florida. I pass3 nests on the way up 41 each day. I just looked at Pink Shell Osprey Cam, and saw what I thought was an egg when Osprey moved. It looks like it may be a little blood on it. She is not completely sitting on it.

RJONEAL………..’doing a quick run thru and spotted photo album……looked like a passport! Thought one of the G’s was stuck at the border!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.and thanks for your kind words…now I feel like I can never make a snide remark again………..dang…..the pressure!
I feel like a slacker; all this free time while others are learning new techniques and I’m just trying to relearn what my stupid Windows10 had changed on it’s “updates”..Bah!

1-11-17 Reply- CarolV I should have taking a view so you can see it is a big album. Anyways 1st the pic you posted Nice, I too forgot how crowded it was when the whole family was in the nest. 2nd Your welcome for kind words, and your snide remark, I can count only 2 x in 2 years that felt a little over the edge towards me. I know what kind of person you are and our friendship so we move on, just voicing your opinion I know. I depend on you as our G&G Osprey commentary spokeswoman. Ever since you came to us at the beginning some were not sure how to take your humor and observations. It did not take them long with just a lil encouragement from me to keep going,keep posting for everyone to see what a wonderful lady you are. I am so glad during the beginning you did not leave and stuck it out. This made the haters leave and all of us were standing by you anytime someone had something even the the slightest bit out of tone towards you. I just love, love that you devoted your time to always give updates,weather reports, pics, humor, and educational info along with environmental issues as well. As you know I am on site 24/7 most times but do not have the humor you have to give such wonderful updates for all those who only get a chance to check in but depend on your posting to keep them updated. Hope you have been saving up for some new material to use for this year haaaaa 🙂 If not the old stuff will be just as good since you have such a flare on how to word it.
ps I still am trying to figure out Windows 10 and I have had it for awhile but only know just what I use so much more to learn dont feel bad.

CarolV are you ever going to post a pic of yourself? Maybe one of you at work? This seems to be the CarolV everyone knows the one at work that is. Would love to finally see your face since I already know you are a beautiful person inside the outside is just the shell but then you feel like you have really meet the whole person.

January 12th Full Wolf Moon 6:34 am
aka The Old Full Moon
Saw the snow shining last night when I was up in mid. of night. Our 7-8″ of snow will disappear when the temps shift from a current 13 now @7:30am est 1/10/17 to the 40s later today with possible 50s by Thursday……….bubye snow! (not a snow lover, in case I haven’t mentioned it) !

1-13-17 Reply- Emily we make a good team. I can do the easy part post a pic and you can do all the fancy tricks to make it even better haaa :). Love both of them but the one with the heart that floats in between G&G I really love the best. It took awhile for CarolV to do a Gravatar. If you remember early in the past season we had some trolls for the 1st time on our site and they were posting comments under fake names but also using our followers names. Then our followers would have to post that they did make that mean negative post. Betsy is one of followers that had it happen to and she is also the one that found out all about our main Troll Tammy. Once you have a Gravatar pic if someone post under your name if it is not you the pic will not show up so we will all know it is a troll. This was one of the reason I did the Gravatar then asked others so we could just ignore the trolls. Just FYI in case you are wondering why I like it so much. I have no financial gain,not a spokesperson for them darn….. The pics are perfect for Valentines thanks again.

Yes, we make a good team, but I don’t think I make your photos better! I’m just having fun… About those trolls – I don’t get why some people are such wretched human beings. That’s why I prefer animals. Haha.

1-9-17 Reply- BirdRJSviewer16 Glad you are checking in. You should look back a couple pages back and you will see I did take a pic of the nest on the 1st winter snow before Tommy went to go out of town and the camera was shut down.. Several us posted lots of Holiday pics very creative you should take a look. Enjoy 🙂
Love Our Osprey Family & Followers!

1-9-17 Bob nice to see a face to match the name you do not look your age. I posted picture of some the Osprey followers that went to the luncheon if you want to look at that it is on this same page 56. I too am enjoying our Florida weather but the last 2 days has been burrr in the 30s but highs in 40s-50s now tomorrow finally back in the 70s. I hope you have time to go back a couple pages and take a look at all the creative pics that were taken by everyone for the Holidays. Start at Thanksgiving I posted a real good one from June C who was in Cancun of the 3 babies. Also before the camera got shut down I did get the first winter snow on our nest. The only reason camera is off right now is Tommy is out of town but we are told he will be back by the time our birds come back. A lot of us have been watching Eagles and like you once and awhile I get to see one in my area but not to often. Mostly Hawks Ospreys, Owls,Snake birds,Egrets,Pelicans,and all the other usual suspects.

Thanks for making me feel younger. i have gone back and seen all the amazing pics that you and others have posted. You are all so good at it. While we all wait with hope for G & G to return I have been watching young eaglets hatching and growing on different sites. Don’t kill too many fish but between my wife and I we do get some great and very fresh fish dinners. Not as fresh as the osprey who’s dinner is always flipping around. Be well. Bob

1-5-2017 Reply Emily Aww, you did keep a pic of my Family Tree and I just love the heart with Gracie and the motion one too. I have made a lot of pics inside a heart of our Osprey Family in the past I just love hearts. Here are some that I posted in past.

1-6-17 Reply- Helen did you see them? Here in Florida they not only mate in nest but mostly in Pine Trees, at least the ones in my neighborhood do. They meet at the nest to bond a lot and sometimes one will bring a fish but often we see them mating in the trees. It takes good skill but they do it well. It only last a few seconds to minutes but babies always come so it must work.

1-1-2017 HAPPY NEW YEARS DAY ! Everyone be safe and kind to all, for those in cold weather keep warm. Missing everyone and our Osprey Family,Gracie and George keep safe and come home to us when the time is right we miss you both.

1-6-17 Reply-CarolV we all know I am all about Florida, so sand it is. I did not see that before until you mentioned it. Funny how new eyes can open up to a new prescriptive thats what I love about our site. How is the clean up with all the dead fish going? I really hope this does not impact our G&G Family when they return. After all it is a new year so talons crossed new year,G&G return safe,start new family,good weather,plenty of fish.

Dear RJ, The fish kill up north is a very common fall phenomena and is usually mostly a fish called menhaden (or locally bunker or moss bunker). The striped bass and bluefish drive the bunker into tight quarter inlets in such great numbers that they use up all the oxygen in the water and just plain die of asphyxiation. I have seen it many times and so it never surprises me. I don’t think we have to worry about a lack of food for the osprey when they return. I personally think the weather conditions play a greater role in their being able to catch enough food during nesting season. What bothers me more is the red tide down here in FL that kills many species of fish and manatees as well. It can take a long time for the fishery to recover and that is why seasons and regs change so often in order to restore some fish. It can take years. Hope you are well. Bob

1-28-17 Reply-Bob I agree the red tide is awful in Florida and I think I posted last year or maybe the year before about the red tide here in Florida. I love the manatees and use to scuba dive a lot and would see so many plus they are around us along with dolphins. They spend so much time talking about it and not enough action I know. That algae bloom is just awful.

Wow!! I don’t how you did this but it looks amazing! I saved a copy and am hoping to get a good print of it suitable for framing. It would look awesome hanging in my house — one of my rooms has a similar color scheme. Thanks for this, Rjoneal!!!

1-9-17 Reply ChrisH I am so glad you like it, Rodee paints and many of her pictures have been in an exhibit so I knew she might like this. Rodee did thank me in private by private email which is under my Gravatar pic by my name. Thank you so much for the compliment, June C and I both printed our pics that we have taken and ones that we posted and they came out just fine. June C even gave me a special B-Day gift in September by making a photo album and printed all the pics on photo paper.
Thanks for checking in and posting comments,glad you are still with us. Can not wait till our family comes home but until then I will continue to create pics of our family.
Love Our Opsrey Family and Followers!

Hi! Hope everyone having a good week ‘tween holidays before our long winters nap! Last time I logged on stream was down and now down again- has it been up lately?

For CHRISTIAN in Greenport- although not destroying the long established nest you are concerned about would be the ideal solution, being ignored by Big Utilities in favor of economics/their convenience too often the case. Just saw this article to show moving can be successful with a little concern on their part… if there is any way you could pass this on to powers that be…keep us updated if you make any progress…

12-30-16 G&G if they were at the nest on a snow day!
Reply- Emily this is what I did with that program for now, still trying to figure out what pics I want to play with and make something. Thanks again I have about 4 different pic programs and this one is just as user friendly as the ones I use. Thanks again 🙂

1-5-17 reply- Emily thanks commenting on pic and yes I am liking it but have not had much time to get on computer. I have a question were you with us last Season I mean in 2015? Do you live NY if you are wanting to say if not that is ok. Just so you know if click on my Gravatar pic it has my email address if you want to email privately.

We have had several days in 80 s but this weekend it is going to get to freezing for 2 days in the 30 s Burrr. Just getting yard work and what we call spring cleaning for the new year. You have to mow and weed eat and all that since the grass is still growing and the bushes and trees are too so they all need trimming lots to do. I always like to steam clean carpets doe outside cleaning and inside before we get our winter months usually Jan and Feb.

1-9-17 Reply- Emily thanks for such kind words,you are so far away from me living in Florida. This is great to be able to meet someone like you, and you taught something new, and I am able to share it with our Osprey Followers. We are so lucky to have this site, look how educational it can be and I love learning new things. We have such a great site and followers too.
The year 2015 was a hard year since it had PeeWee but it taught us all about Sibling Rivalry and if you want to learn about the Ospreys and most birds this is part of nature. It was really hard at first but then you realize it is part of nature. I just stopped watching when it got real bad once he passed on then I could watch again.
The Eagles are more aggressive to me and they eat just about anything so watching the Ospreys who only eat fish mostly except rare occasion is so beautiful. Do not get me wrong I still love to watch Eagles too but once you watch them then Ospreys are so much more tame. However, Ospreys have been known to fight an eagle if they have to. Sometimes I think the Eagle parents pay a little more attention to their young but it just depends on their age and different families have different ways just like our Osprey Family G&G. They have rare qualities as mates and parents, as our Osprey Specialist Rob B. has pointed out in the past and it may have to do with them both being so young.
Can you post a pic of what the weather looks like around you in Canada? Would love to see. Talking to you will probably be the closest I will ever be able to get to Canada. I have seen many pics and books but not the same.
Do you have birds around you there? Do you have Ospreys around you ?
Do you know how to make a Gravatar pic next to your name? Would love it if you could get a Gravatar pic, it makes it so easy during the Season when everyone is posting to glance at the pics to find the comments you want to read 1st then go back and read all comments. As you know their are so many people that will be posting when our birds come home. Try it learn something new like you taught me to do. Haaaa 🙂 I got Betsy, JuneC, Margaret R, and even our Nicest……. person on the site and our commentary spokeswoman, well thats what I call her CarolV figured it out.
Once again thanks for joining our family and I can not wait till our Season 3 starts with George and Gracie.

I completely agree with you. I feel the same way about the eagles and the ospreys. I am happy to have found this site and to meet you guys. I have never been to Florida, but it looks like it would be a beautiful place to live in. I bet it’s nothing like this pic I posted of a lakeside drive in Toronto today.

1-11-17 Reply- Emily,
How beautiful, thanks for taking a pic and posting it. Kinda funny to see electrical power lines hanging from pole to pole. Not everywhere but mostly where I live all the wiring and Cable,Electrical is underground now except in some of the old neighborhoods and certain areas.
This picture reminds me a lot of Nebraska where I grew up. Thanks for bringing back some good memories even though this picture could be as far as the moon especially how far this pic was taken from Nebraska but yet looks like it.
Did you think about using a pic to have your own Gravatar? Some of of the followers used their pets others used symbols and of course like me several of us used a pic of George or Gracie. Thanks for granting my wish with the beautiful pic now we just need our G&G to come home safely when the time is right. 🙂
Silly, silly lady the year on pic needs to be 2017 this is why I hate the 1st month of a New Year it takes about a month before you get use to writing a new year.
Big Osprey Hug !

I didn’t see ospreys in Toronto. But last September (around 11 pm) I thought I saw one flying south. Some years ago, I was fascinated watching intelligent sparrow interaction, friendly blue jays, cardinals, mean grackles, crows… Sadly, I saw starlings and pigeons eaten by falcons in my backyard. Now, I live in a condo, with a small patio, and I’m happy that my neighbour has a bird feeder (and a great dane :)… so we are visited by small birds, as well as by chipmunks, squirrels, and sometimes raccoons…
Haha. I realized I wrote the wrong year after I posted it!
I might look into making a Gravatar account. Thanks for the suggestion.

1-9-17 Reply- alizarin Of course we all love the calendars and so glad you took the time to make them and share them with all of us. Now we just need our G &G to come home safely and start a new family. Here is to 2017 good fishing, good weather, healthy babies, all survive and fledge to migrate.
Osprey Hug to you, missing all the action of watching our Ospreys. Keep in touch !

Hope you’re all doing well. Tommy let me know that the camera will be offline for some time this winter for repairs. I’m not sure exactly how soon it will be back, but definitely by the time our ospreys return. In the meantime, the comments section will be open as usual, and I’ll see if there’s anything I can put up in place of the stream.

12-30-16 Reply- Aidan thanks for letting us know. I hope he stays warm and safe during his travels. I wish Tommy a nice time but would be lying if I said I was not sad. 🙁
Going to miss the view but happy he will return before our family comes back home. Hopefully Tommy will return early you know how us fans are anxiously awaiting to see the first ospreys return and then to get the first glimpse of our George and Gracie to make sure they are safe.
Love that you are going to try and put something up maybe some of video from when the babies were growing and changing so quickly like during the month of July and August. By 8-20-16 Ali left so it would be good to see when all 3 were still in nest but not during the time Rocky was getting pecked a lot.

Aidan no matter what you put on the stream THANK YOU, to Paul, you and all others that are allowing the site to stay up for comments. I love our site the most for this reason. We can still communicate to each other all year long. Thanks again and a big Osprey Hug to you!

12-28-16 Paul and Aidan is there going to be a highlight video for this last Season 2016 ? I hope all is well with both of you and your families.
Paul you have not posted in a longggggggggggg while,maybe give us a hello or update on how well your TRS buisness is going along with our OZ progress hummmm. Just missing our Paul Henry, are you even still with us at all, we know you are a busy man? Hope to hear something from you, your osprey followers can not thank you and others enough.

1-5-2017 Reply CarolV surprised you have never visited since in Chesapeake Bay they have Osprey nest too I thought you would have seen this before. Thanks for passing info to those who did not know about. Missing our Ospreys sooooo much. Mostly watching Eagles,and the nature of all the birds in my backyard for now along with cleaning, cleaning.

Chillin’ the bubbly to share a drink with my OZ friends! Hope you all had a great day yesterday with yr fam and friends…Was Santa good to you? It’s been a trying year for many of us, as we have shared here. Best wishes for a better 2017 for us and everyone…..starting to sound Tiny Tim-ish…just need a Cockney accent!

12-30-16 Margaret R thanks, have you seen Emily’s pics she did below. Awesome, she also gave us picture takers a new program that I had not used to take pics with before so now I have about 4- 5 different ones. I am ready for Season 3 to start and wont feel better about our birds till I see George and Gracie again. Every year I hold my breathe they will come back to us. Hugs. Happy New Years and be safe.

From the first time I heard the call,
Of the Osprey in the air.
I knew I had a place to go,
A place where we can share,
Memories and stories
Of how are lives have been
Watching baby osprey grow, then fledged
And brought us back again..

Life seems to come full circle
The memories of the past..
OZ has been a huge part of that
an now it’s a part of us
Taking in the beauty
The broken heart will mend
Until the time the ones we love
Close the circle again

12-22-16 Reply- Emily, another great piece of work and with our baby Rocky. See my request to you on the other pic you did for us.
Sweet Rocky such strong will,good survival instincts,and great fisherman along with beautiful wings . We miss you Rocky my Love !

12-22-16 Reply- Emily WOW, now you have to tell us how you did this? Love, Love the action photos and we all know how much and how many millions of photos I take. Please let us know if this is something you can teach us photo takers that love to post pics. What a great Holiday gift you have giving us and such a great addition to our family.
Now if you do not tell us the secret than please try and do one with our sweet Gracie, since she left first I think I miss her the most.
Love our Osprey Family and Followers!

Hi, RJ!
I made these gifs with http://www.lunapic.com
It’s very easy and fun: click ‘Animation’, then ‘Edit Gif Animation’ (You can also do ‘clip to gif’)
Try all options – enjoy!
If you have lots of pictures, it’s easier to upload them to YouTube and make slideshows – I did a slideshow for Charlo, Montana’s Aspen chick (because there were no pics taken that day) – http://www.youtube.com/etzdc

12-28-16 Reply- Emily thanks for all your info,will have to try it out when I get some time to play around with it. Let you know if its something I like or not. I know I like your pics and you picked our star Rocky. Thanks again 🙂

Good morning everyone, be careful and stay warm.
CarolV it is 81 degrees in Florida and Sunday is suppose to be 85 degrees but looking at the snow fall on the nest all day sure makes me miss it. So beautiful looking. Just looking at the snow fall made me feel cold but I drank a hot cup of coffee and could not stop staring at the snow falling.

Hello all……Rjoneal..love all your pictures and you great song!!!! ……CarolV..you always put up the best funny pictures….Rodee..so sorry to hear you where in a car accident, but glade you are OK… We just got back from Fla., Fort Myers & Disney..we saw many nests only a few had Osprey’s in them, but Osprey’s where hanging around them…it was so great to hear them in the sky…We go to the DR at least once or twice a year. I am going to write a letter to resort to spread the word that Osprey’s only eat fish …word of mouth may help Lief..the resort is in Puerto Plata pretty close to the mountains…who knows
Wishing all Happy Holidays….

Rob B’s latest post on facebook-( and ospreytrax,com) “Newfoundland Osprey Leif seems to have settled down at Laguna del Rincon in the D.R. We had a bird (Tucker) shot at this lake back in 2007. Back around 2007 after our 4th juvenile trying to overwinter in the D.R. was shot, I got in touch with Jorge Brocca, president of the Hispaniola Ornithological Society. Jorge helped recover a transmitter from a downed bird. We put together a small grant and aired some public service ads on local TV. The message was that Ospreys only eat fish, so there’s no reason to shoot them to protect chickens. Of course we don’t know if that made much of a difference–many of the people we were targeting probably don’t watch a lot of TV, but we tried. When I saw where Leif seems to have settled down–at least for now–I emailed Jorge to see what we could do. One of his staff–Cesar Caceres–is in the area and will spread the word about our amazing Leif. Making him a celeb down there may be a good thing. It will keep more eyes on him and be a good way to do some education about Ospreys. Maybe we’ll save some more down the line if more people understand where the Ospreys they see come from and what they do–link only eating fish!”
Thanks, Dr. Rob, for the update!

Cold clear night making moon look even brighter…22′ dropping to teens tonight…putting on a muffler just thinking about us, Rjoneal? Very windy conditions making the “feels like” temp at least 0!
On the way to work, this a.m.’ crossing the Peconic River bridge, a swan barely made it over the bridge’s railing while taking off. As it rose and the wind hit it, it was sailing backwards, and dropping altitude- swans’ don’t have the body shape of our beautiful osprey for maneuvering! I was afraid I was going to hit it! It was maybe 6′ above my car as I went under it- the bird was flapping like a mad-thing just to stay up! Wasn’t looking forward to playing “Angry Birds” if it came thru my windshield! It was beautiful, tho- rare view!

CarolV Must have been something to see. I live East Creek on the North Fork. Swans seldom fly in comparison to most waterfowl. If anyone has the good fortune to be close to one in flight,you should take a listen. The woosh their wings make is something special to hear. Beats the heck out of those dumb leaf blowers.

12-17-16 CarolV been real busy around here sorry for not getting back sooner. You guys are crazy, living in both climates North and South both have their pros and cons. As I age I can not imagine driving in the snow in traffic with birds and animals and ice and rain. I do not miss that at all. However driving here year round the traffic is awful and we do get a lot floods,hurricanes, wind storms, hail storms. I am so glad I grew up in the North with snow but even happier I am spending the 2nd part of my life in the South.
Burrrrrrr to anything under 70 degrees.

I do hope that the employee is able to spread the word and educate local residents about osprey. Their survival is so important, especially taking into consideration what the species has overcome since the 1960’s. They deserve celebrity status ⭐️

12-14-16 Reply- Susan M thanks for checking in with us. Wishing you and your loved ones a good Holiday, keep warm and safe. As you can see G&G coming home can not happen soon enough for most of us. I try to post a pic every 2 days or so just because I miss them so much…..
Love our Osprey Family and Followers

Thanks, rjoneal – – – –
Kind and comforting words you wrote.I would rather watch some osprey nests, but here are 100th of pages to be filled out, for ins. co, docs and police. I don’t understand the terminology and the meaning of so many questions – so I feel really helpless. Car shopping on saturday.
Maybe stuff like that is best communicated via e-mail – don’t you think so? Nothing to do with Osprey Family. Rodee

Leif, Rob B’s late traveler from Newfoundland, has changed his course again. Looked like he was heading for SA finally, but decided to go exploring again; probably in the last place he should be heading- the DR…..We can only wish him God-speed–or say” May Odin watch over you!”

Reply Rodee I live in Jacksonville Florida Osprey, Florida is another place in Florida.
Osprey is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,100 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bradenton–Sarasota–Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area.

12-12-16 Osprey Zone Followers
Ann H contacted me the other day and is still having a hard time trying to get into the spirit of Holidays since the passing of her dog,family member. She wanted me to thank everyone for their kind words. She went on the site only 1x since but by the time G&G come back she we will back into the routine of things. Just wanted to pass it on.
Big Osprey Hugs to you and your family

12-12-16 Reply- Rodee I do not live in Osprey, Florida just wanted to send a pic since obviously the name osprey but there are lots of Ospreys there and pretty much anywhere you go in Florida you will see an osprey nest. A matter fact while June C was in Fort Myers she too saw ospreys at the nest. Usually the juv. ospreys will hang out and the male and female ospreys will sometimes hang out just for a bit at the nest but wont sleep there unless they are mating or have babies.
Right now as CarolV has mention there is an osprey nest at pink shell and she might be getting ready to mate or lay an egg soon. Some more mature Florida ospreys can have 2 batches of babies since they have learned how to time the hatching and live here all year long if they want. This of course is for the permanent residents ospreys. There are about 3-5 live cam nest in Florida that I know of could be more.
I have about 4 ospreys around me right now and I just have to wait to see if they are going to mate like previously they had 2 batches of babies. Mostly the Red Hawks are going crazy looking for food as the weather goes from chilly to hot. 1 day we had 50-46 degrees and by the next day we were at 80 degrees. Just like today 80 degrees. 2 winters here in Florida that I know of it snowed but melted as it hit the ground and several winters we all wore shorts on Christmas and New Years. You just never know,that is the disadvantage to Florida we really do not have seasonal changes just various temps. through out the year.

Good morning and it is. Thanks, rjoneal, nice surprise to see the 3 of us together. How about doing another luncheon in January, when the boring period sets in, after all the hustles and pressure for the Holy Days. Lets give Carol lots of time to make plans to be with us. ….. and the others as well. We need our humorists.
I was in a car crash Tuesday evening on my way home from work. I am fairly OK – my car is totaled . The other driver is at fault. I hired a lawyer, just in case and I am coping with the situation. Rodee

Reply-Rodee, I am so sorry to hear about your car and the trauma of being in a car accident. I was injured several years ago with broken ribs, shoulder injury and my car was totaled. Out of work for about 3 to 6 months and had to do rehab. The person that hit me had stolen a car was under the influence of drugs and had several DUIs. You can always replace a car even though it can be costly and seems unfair but we can’t replace you so I’m glad you’re OK. With any type of accident it always takes time and lots of healing. Take care.

12-12-16 reply- CarolV best way to travel right? Thanks, and I used to have a lighted snowman outside now I only have lights and statues for swimming pool area of snowman and gingerbread men along w/ lighted Christmas Trees. I love gingerbread men then snowman would be my second thing, well if you dont count the red and blue birds that visit and love my statues. The Snowman hat is great for bird bath when it rains even though I have 2 of them outside they love it.

2016 OZ luncheon June C printed out a pic of me and kept it at the table and all the ladies took pics with it. There were others there but I have not been able to get consent to post pics of them as of yet, so for now, Rodee H. and June C agreed its ok to post pic.

12-8-16 CarolV wow it does look like 2 big bubbles, amazing how you noticed that. Good job ! With the plastic bag and the stick raised the way it is it almost looks like an osprey with his wings open on both sides. Do you see that?

This holiday season has come so fast, which means Spring and the return of our birds isn’t too far off ! I truly wish everyone the best as the year comes to an end. Enjoy time with family and loved ones, savor every moment and memory. 💚

12-7-16 CarolV going with your snowmen theme if you sing a lil tune of Frosty I made a lil jingle but using our ospreys instead of Frosty the Snowman.

OHHHHHHH G&G 🎼
G&G are the best couples we knowwwwww 🎼
with magnificent eye site
and a reversible toeeeee 🎼
G&G are the best at catching their prey
they mate a lot as we all know
but go their separate ways
—there must have been some magic
on that tall pole in Tommy’s town
for when he made a platform, for a nest
they began to hang around 🎼
OHHHHH G&G became our familyyyyyyyy 🎼
and we soon got to seeeeeee
all 3 little babies, grow up to be, just like G&G…….. 🎼
THE END

12-9-16 reply – Chris H thank you, just trying to spread good cheer! Nice to see you are still checking in with us. I miss everyone so much but from here on out so much to do for the Holidays. I have plenty to keep me busy but Osprey Zone is where I go to de- stress. I know living in Florida has its advantages but you still need some down time to do what makes you happy. We all know OZ site talking to everyone and watching, learning is what makes me happy. 🙂
I hope all is well with you.

12-12-16 reply- Margaret R you are welcome I miss him most but also I wish Ali could have hung around the nest longer before he fledge. We got to see the least of Ali.
Do not even get me started on how much I miss my Gracie and George.

CarolV – – – – – – I did not need a name to figure out who mailed the cartoon of the hair-dryer Funny. THAT’S MY CAROL, I thought. Tell me, is this your own drawing? It cute and put a smile on my face.

RANAY …………. Thanks for the Christmas card from the G & G family – so festive. Did George make you do it?
Would it not be wonderful if we could just get a quick glimpse of the place they call home right now. Or see an aerial view as to where they are in relationship to each other.

I am sending wishes for a thoughtful Advent Season – a little extra time reflecting on why we celebrate this Holy Season and may Joy and Peace fill your hearts. I hope you feel the hugs I am sending your way.
Rodee

12-7-16 Reply Rodee my sweet lady I will work on something for you in response to your message below
(Would it not be wonderful if we could just get a quick glimpse of the place they call home right now. Or see an aerial view as to where they are in relationship to each other.)

@11:18amEST- Weedy still going……….almost dead calm winds; thought the picture was frozen till I saw plastic at edge of nest twitching. No waves, no movement within nest…we’ve had some rain, again, but thankfully, no snow.
Lovin’ the seasonal greetings with their pretty frames! Nice job as always !
RJONEAL….when I worked@ the Riverhead King Kullen (for 20+ yrs.) every time I went in the local hospital, there would be my customers taking care of me! Sometimes a little disconcerting, but —-
————————Everyone…………HAGD !!!!!

12-7-16 Reply – CarolV really disconcerting, I always said you cant train someone to be a good nurse it has to be in their soul. Those who do it only for the job or money it always shows.
My patients loved it when they found out I knew their sisters,brothers.parents or family members. They knew I would give more than 100 % even if I was off the clock I would check with them before I left to make sure they did not want me to sit with them. I believe how you treat others really will come back to you in one form or another. And if nothing else it sure feels better to give and make others happy then trying to give and please yourself. I would have made sure you were not uncomfortable and assure you that your personal issue was private.
Then I would just make you laugh and take good care of your needs.

Just a portion of the fish that have washed up from the bunker kill ….this is next town over, with frontage on Shinnecock Bay. The homes nearest this sight( or site-either way) are multi-million dollar houses whose owners enjoy a marshland waterfront view……….heavy equipment cannot be used in these fragile wetlands.

11-29-16 Helen and CarolV Just to give you an FYI- if you would have attended the luncheon, you would have received the gift from June C, who had 10 Calendars made and a couple of photos that she gave out to all Osprey Zone Followers that showed up. I did not mention before but since you brought up, I thought I too would say that June C. was very nice for spending her money and time to do this.

As I was unable to go, I didn’t know this. It was a sweet gesture, June C. But for now < I was giving thanks to the giver and the creator. TY for filling me in, Rj…

I am meeting more OZ followers who drop in to KK where I work..I recently met Tucker- or I should I say re-met ( he and his s.o. Doris have been long time customers, even tho we didn't know names). Tucker has contributed here with fish facts and i.d.'s. Doris had the honor of naming Ali. Hi to you both!

12-3-16 reply- CarolV, nice for Tucker and Helen to come by and see you at work. Maybe the next get together they all can all meet at your work, haaa. Neat how Tucker and wife have been there all along. That situation happened to me many times working at the hospital. So many times I would be taking care of someone and then their family would come to visit and I knew them. What a small world, you just never know. This is exactly why we should always be the best we can be.

12-7-16 Reply Helen I helped Alizarin with the calendar, she sent it to me to proof read and give recommendations before sending out. So I actually got to see the rough draft 1st then her final work of art, that was her vision of the calendar. I was glad and very grateful she asked me to help with.

Dear Ann and Family !
The prize for loving so deeply……… What sadness fills your hearts. Only time will soften your pain somewhat. Nothing will be able to replace your sweet friend. May all the good memories help you cope. I am sorry for your loss. I remember mine, when JELLYBEAN, my cat had to be put to sleep. I was never able to get another one. Even when one of my Lovebirds was killed, I was inconsolable. Your wounds are so fresh and you feel lonely. May the love of others surround you. Rodee H.

More than 1 Million Lbs. of Smelly Fish Wash Up Near One of Wealthiest Streets in Hamptons
BREAKING: 1.4 million lbs. of dead fish washed up in Southampton; wealthy residents can’t turn on heat because smell is so bad, experts say.
PATCH.COM

11-29-16 Reply- CarolV cant they use as fish bait, if they get to the dead fish in time and freeze? Or what about the Vultures or Eagles here in Florida they would be chowing down at least it would not go to waste. Eagles and Vultures would eat so I guess they may not have that many in this area? They should give to birds in rehab or sanctuary’s or even see if the local Zoo can use. What a waste when so many other animals if they could get the fish to them could eat.

Few vultures or eagles here. Plenty of seagulls, tho, but they are so full, they aren’t even fighting much! Remember scene from ” Finding Nemo” with the gulls yelling “Mine,mine, mine”.? That’s what they really are like! There are difficulties removing fish now, as they can’t bring heavy equipment on to the beaches, thru the fragile dunes. Any that have washed ashore in to the marshes are a whole different problem. Some boats that can get them while they are in the water are allowed to harvest and sell for fertilizer and chum. What can be collected from the beaches will be composted at a local landfill for fertilizer. It’s gonna be a long, slow recovery process.

12-3-16 Reply – CarolV thanks for info I was just wondering. So many animals, plants and people have to be affected by this huge number of fish that died. I hope they do find some solution in the future.

Just looked in and was happy to see video back up-but dark right now. Did quick run thru comments and spotted the 3 amigos!!!! Love love love it! Will be back to check it out when I have more time…happy to see so much creativity to explore later……………
Just wanted to add latest info on Dr. Rob’s superstar, Leif………..and happy to hear he did not go the DR route with the dangerous fish farms………

Hello Everyone on this blog – I live in Greenport right near a great ospreys nest on the Fifth Street Beach / Park. I am not sure if any of you are aware , but PSEG plans to run high voltage electrical lines in the direct area of this great nest. There is a chance it may be taken down so PSEG can get a tunneling machine into the tight confined area where the Ospreys nest is located. It’s a disgrace what they are doing and what the twin will do for a few bucks. I met with the PSEG engineers and they claimed the only reason they are doing this project near the ospreys nest is because it is the closest and easiest root. Seriously , that was there response. They have not even looked anywhere else. It is the closet point on a map. It will kill the birds and disrupt the communities greatest public beach and park. If anyone cares to get involved and try to stop this madness from happening , please email me at Christian.mcshea@gmail.com we need your help. I wrote this on 11/28/16

11-29-16 Reply- Christian, we have a law here in Florida that protects the ospreys. I do not know if it varies from state to state and I do not know all the ends and outs of the particulars about the law. Is there not a law to protect the nest of the osprey? How bizarre it is PSEG since they are the ones who helped rescue our lil babies in 2015 Ronnie and Sandy. They both had fishing line stuck around their claws and foot. There is a video on the rescue on this site. I would think and hope somehow you can get the law on your side so they can not disturb the nest. This is terrible if true that they have not even looked at alternate routes that could be taken.

PSEG and most companies are famous for doing fast and cheap for them. It’s what the towns allow them to get away with. The South Fork towns demanded, and got, buried lines to preserve the beauty of their towns and help with storm related damage. The North Fork towns didn’t have the clout or persistence for many years now and allowed the big-ass poles on both major roads. They lean and usually require additional poles for stability, adding to the scenic clutter. It would be a shame to have them get away with this plunder without offering a plausible, justifiable reason, other than cost.

I am sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The issue here is that this is just an old pole that became an ospreys nest to a family of 4-6 Osprey last year and just the 2 mates show up in April and go back down South in October,

This is not a utlity pole that is in use or connected to anything, It had been there for a long time. Well it is right in the line where they will be digging up the earth and tunneling to shelter island starting in September 2017.

There is no reason this needs to happen and it can easily be avoided. They are doing this to run high voltage electrical lines to Shelter Island under the bay – but they will be digging and staging right where the nest is. It is totally ridiculous. Plus there is a public beach and park here too.

Please let me know you can see the 2 photos I have attached — I do not see them although I have attached them.

I was hoping to get the ball rolling and perhaps pick up some interest with other member of this site who may have some tips for me. When they did the environmental DEC review initially – they didn’t even list that an Ospreys nest was present and they weren’t disturbing any wildlife.

It was the middle of June and there were 1-2 fa,ilies of Osprey living there. This is crazy – I need help from anyone who know about this. please google GREENPORT NY PSEG CABLE PROJECT and you will get the idea.

Thank you so mush – I hope to here from you and please share with the rest of the club if possible.

Hello to all my nature-lovers. I hope your Thanksgiving was enjoyable.
My son and his wife were here from PA and of course, we went to the site and back tracked. They live near Hawk Mountain and I invited myself for our next migration period. YIPPY.
Typical to my nature, once and for all I wanted a professional ID for the “salad bowl” in the nest. Fortunately the same plant grows by my front door. So I mailed it to the local Cornell Diagnostic Lab in Riverhead.
“The planet submitted has been identified as ANNUAL sowthistle . This is a annual that reproduces primarily through wind-blown seed. Seeds germinate in mid to late spring but can continue to emerge throughout the season in moist, cool sites.Lower leaves are generally more rounded and lobed in appearance, where the upper leaves will become more sharply lobed. I have enclosed a chart to tell the difference between some similar-looking weeds as well. After a frost or freeze the plant should begin to senesce.” Sandra Vultaggio, Horticulture Consultant – It was worth the $8.00. The plant certainly adds to the beauty of the nest.

11-24-16 ALL OZ FOLLOWERS
Today was a day to give thanks but for one of our Osprey Zone members is has been a day of sorrow. Ann H. and her family is suffering the loss of their dog. Those of us who have animals who are part of the family knows how difficult this can be.
Sending Osprey Hugs to all.

ALIZARIN; Your calendar turned out beautifully….HELEN had an extra one printed and dropped it off to me. Thanks to both of you for my copy that will have pride of place on my wall!!!
BETSY: You may have worn out those eyeballs I sent to you! How do you find the time? Good one with the Snickers for Rj……..
RJONEAL: I’m okay on sites to watch…..watching some eagle sites and Pink Shell, which I know isn’t in full use yet, but you’re info will give me an idea of when ………..don’t get as involved so I’m on semi-vaca from bird watch.
The huge flocks of mixed black birds are here. Passed a yard, on the way to work, that was solid black ! Love watching them come in and cover trees and phone lines, lifting and falling in processioned order, poetry in motion!

Went away to finish dinner prep and ate. Prob look like the chicks after a big fish! Full crop!
The video stream is down again. It’s been so windy, I’m not surprised! Poor camera is probably tired anyway…was a long season.

My Windows 10 did some updating and I do NOT like the changes. What was a relatively easy photo/screenshot process has become an enemy ! And it made locating older shots more difficult…not a happy camper. It also changed background colors of my most basic pages and is not allowing me to change things- at least, I should say, I haven’t figured things out….not happy at all!

Thank you for keeping this site streaming 24/7 with or without any Osprey. May you receive many blessings for your kindness. Allowing me to follow Rocky (Baby Boo) was an experience I will forever cherish. His/her will to survive was so moving and inspiring. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! I only wish I could have followed Rocky on his/her journey south. I absolutely fell in love with him/her. What a wonderful thing you are doing for so many of us nature, bird lovers. May God bless you always! Susan Pipitone

11-29-16 Reply- Jan thank you, here is hoping our osprey family has settled in for the winter wherever that might be. I hope they find their migration home just as pleasant as their home they grew up in. Here is to George and Gracie, may the wind swiftly,and carefully bring them back to us safely when the time is right.
Here is a pic of our George and Gracie 5-31-16 Gracie on 3eggs

11-29-16 Betsy as I have said before I use the My Passport and I love it. Try it and you will love so easy to use.
As far as all the other stuff about pics, well I dont know about that there is not to many people that post pics and now you want them to try it your way. Not sure thats going to work. Good effort and nice for you to educate everyone but even I cant say that I will remember and do the way you want. It just depends on how much time I have and if I remember. 🙂

To Paul, Henry and Aiden and to their families – to all my loving Osprey Family Friends, I wish a relaxed day in the midst of a joyful ROUND TABLE of good people, sharing love and fine foods and wines.
Yes, there are so many reason for giving Thanks.
God’s Blessings on everyone. Rodee Hansen

11/21/16 4:33 Eastern: Looks windy at the nest, but such a beautiful view. Snowy and cold here in the Berkshires. All my feathered friends are eating me out of house and home due to the snow. Have to refill the feeders every morning. Not to mention putting out kibble for the squirrels and crows so they’ll leave the feeders alone. Thank you for leaving the site up this long. I miss the Osprey and look forward to next year.

11-20-16 WHERE IS BETSY?? Are you missing in action? Have not seen any comments lately on what CarolV and I along with others have been posting.
Hope everything is ok. Not like you to not comment on my Accomplishments of 2016 cause I know you will have a positive and negative remark. Which I can handle, just let us know you are ok.
Betsy is playing us like Brutus right? She will reappear when we don’t expect it. haaaaaa 🙂 check in with us

rjoneal: I’m here!! Finally got my pictures sorted out!! Now I’m going back through the pages to see if there are any pictures posted that I want to add — just finished page 42 and I am heading to page 43!!

I was looking to find the video to recreate a set of pictures from a May 11th intruder episode. These pictures are also from May 11th video, at around 11:10 am, but are not from the video I was looking for. As we all know the video stream would sometimes have technical issues. The video I made is a little over 5 minutes and is of George sitting on the eggs when an intruder came. The live video stream apparently pixelated only when George flew off to chase the intruder and at the time I either didn’t notice or didn’t care (most likely didn’t care). I took these pictures tonight from the video and I really like how they have an abstract arty feel!!

Reply-Betsy there you are. 🙂
You know how I always take pictures in sequence order if you need me to email you some I will.
If you need help with some of the dates I can look on my pictures because I date them as soon as I take them. When we didn’t have the date time stamp.

I haven’t been to the OZ site in about a week because I’ve been crazy with organizing my “G&G” pictures. Well, I’m down to my last 25 pictures (from early in the season) to figure out and label. I had pictures scattered everywhere – in an “osprey” folder, “for OZ” folder, the “Pictures” folder that’s one of the Windows general folders, a “saved” (pictures) — folder, “screenshot” folder, and pictures that I thought I put in the “OZ” folder to post and then couldn’t find when I went to post because I had inadvertently put them in the “Music” folder!! 😀 Plus, all the pictures I had pasted on documents – some of them 70+ pages of pictures (see one of my previous posts). I’m annoyingly obsessive about how I want my pictures cropped and labeled – meaning in proportion to the subject and uniformly cropped when they’re part of a series and the date and time noted for every picture. Some of the early pictures were sent to me or I grabbed a screenshot of my own, stopping the video to use the snipping tool or “prt sc” (print screen) and that would lead to ununiformed cropping and/or with printing on the picture across the top (sorry Paul), which to me, ruins the beauty of the picture. In other words, with a little patience and several attempts, the perfect picture can be grabbed without having to stop the video stream. So, I’ve been going back to videos I took so I could re-create a picture!! Where am I going with this you’re asking?? Well, we were really spoiled when the time stamp was added and adding the date was the crème de la crème!! (Too bad the date wasn’t added sooner – I wouldn’t be bald now from trying to figure out when the pictures on the documents were from!! 😀 😀 ) These pictures are from an early video I was looking at to re-create a few of my pictures – it looks so bare without the date and time!! 😀 😀

11-22-16 Betsy I have this whole day well most of the day pics in sequence here is what happened to go along with your pics. Not sure of the time but on the same day I have the pics you posted along with Geo bringing in a fish and Gracie taking off with it so you can add to your collection ha .
pic 5-11-16 G&G hang out at nest Geo brings in fish Gracie fly’s off with it.

Hope someone else saw the two crows picking over our nest for about twenty minutes today 11-18-16 at about 3:50 to approximately 4:10 pm. So beautiful, shiny black feathers, perfectly groomed, exchanging food (can’t imagine what they found there, didn’t look very tasty) . Was I ever lucky!! Having been rewarded today, now am waiting to see a whale or some dolphins in the Bay. Not impossible, yesterday there was a whale by Statue of Liberty. During the summer my son and friend saw school of dolphins swim by at Robert Moses – and later came back. Field 5.

RJONEAL..when do your local osprey begin their nesting season? I checked in to Pink Shell resort webcam and one was sitting on a corner. Was wondering if anything is starting there. Do you recommend any other FL cams.

11-18-16 reply- CarolV
CarolV, out of my respect for Paul’s request I do not think posting sites would be appreciated.
Although he and the moderators are kind enough to let us talk about other osprey nest. Also events going on to help educate everyone who comes to Osprey zone. It would be wrong for me to post websites to other live cams on Ospreys.
If you would like to email me I would be more than happy to send you a list of all that I know of. All you have to do is click on my Gravatar picture and my email is on there.
As I’ve said in the past Osprey zone is my home and will always be my home. However I do frequent some sites to learn and gather information and to compare the difference
between older,younger ospreys and the different behaviors.

11-18-16 reply-CarolV I know at Pink 1 st egg hatched Febuary and 1st egg laid end of December. So could be an egg it is possible. In my opion a lil early still. Just depends on the experience of the osprey. They say the ones in Florida that do have 2 batches of babies are mature older birds that have learned how to calculate the timing.
The Ospreys in backyard down at the lake usually have the 1 st batch
of babies in February then in either June or July they had 2 batch of babies. I have seen 2 years in a row but have no way to know for sure it is the same pair of Ospreys. I just know the male osprey that has landed many times on fence or in my tree appeared to be the same male 2 years in a row.
The female osprey does have good necklace markings but she has never landed close enough for me to see if it is the same female. Female does not stay long when I see her fly on top pine tree.

Shinnecock Bay is the body of water that lies between this canal and the Atlantic. Shinnecock Inlet connects this bay to the ocean. My son had seen flocks of gannet hunting from above along the ocean shore while surfcasters were pulling bluefish from the ocean as fast as they could reel them in. While in a feeding frenzy, blues snap on to anything.
While schools of bunker are huge, it makes me wonder how an event this extensive will effect next year’s availability of foos supplies. Only time will tell. It will be a long speculation as to cause and effect and only Mom Nature has that answer………………

11-20-16 Reply- CarolV this is bad really bad, I hope the community pulls together for the sake of everyone, people and animals to try and find a solution to this problem. There has to be something they can do just probably will cost a lot to fund. I read about it here in Florida for we get a lot of algae fish kills and some pretty bad and unknown fish kills but this is probably the worst I have seen or heard about since I have been alive. I know your son is in the fishing business and I know that both of you are very active in keeping people informed about keeping our environment safe mostly the dangers in the water. For human life and plant and animal life.
Us humans probably help create this mess with all of our developments in the areas so we need to figure out how to protect what we have left.
I feel terrible knowing this is happening anywhere but sure glad our ospreys are already gone. I only hope this does not create a chain reaction that will be felt when our family comes back home.

She rides the sky like she owns the sun,
on a sea of air and light-
surfing, skimming, rising high,
then sweeping low and tight.
She swoops to catch a perfect
wave,er wings held straight and true.
The ocean was cold, the sunlight was
gold, feeling free as could be…

The non stop and ultra speedy journey by Leif is mind boggling ! It gets me thinking about G & G, their wintering location ( wherever it may be ), how Ronnie & Sandy are doing, if this years babies made it… so many unanswered questions.

9:02 amEST In case any one cares, timer is still on EDT
Just found out I have new features to my nice simple screenshot editing….this could get interesting-translate:freaky. Please bear with me if I try anything new!

Confession- a very nice lady stopped in to my job Saturday to say Hi! to me as a fellow OZ watcher and, as I’m so wonderful with names, I’m not sure now…..I think it was Nancy. Hi to you and let me know again if you spot this! Apologies…..I mentioned to you that Helen, another watcher, also stops in; she was there shortly after you! If timing were better, we could have had an OWA meeting. Eastern LI chapter!

I think Gracie is sneaking in at night once in a while to re-arrange the rope.

FOR CAROL….
When I still lived in Northport, the same fish-die offs happened at the Mill Dam Road in Centerport by OLQM church.
The stench was overpowering and the Town Of Huntington brought in heavy equipment to remove all the dead fish.
Your photos are quite shocking. If this had happened while our ospreys were still here, do you think they would dive for them? Just wondering. Rodee H.

re:rope magic…And I thought it was my eyes! Crows maybe? Wind? Ghost of Peewee?
I don’t think the osprey go after dead fish…it didn’t appear so when the die-off happened in the Peconic Estuary basin last year. There was a die-off on a small scale(relatively speaking) this year, up the island somewhere, which was attributed to trapped fish, low oxygen, maybe red tide. Just checked- it was Mill Pond, Northport-same as by you? Don’t know my LI geography, shamed to say. About 11,000 fish.. And yes, the die-off on Peconic stunk. Many fish were beached along the shore, especially in the reeds of the marshes, where clean-up was difficult!

Haven’t been by canal since this happened. Hopefully, most went out with tide!

For Rodee hansen I live in Northport and this past summer the blue fish chased the bunkers in the harbor in Centerport twice. I drove by on 25A and to go to the Huntington Village and you are so right the smell was beyond disgusting.

Osprey Zone Followers we are so lucky that Paul Henry and others decided to start this little project of the live cam view of the ospreys, mainly George and Gracie of course. Osprey zone with the beautiful scenery behind it has been part of our lives ever since it started. Paul you have made so many people not only aware of our ospreys but aware of what we do to our environment and how it affects nature. You have taught us a lot about survival in nature whether it be beautiful or heart breaking.
You have given free 24/7 live education on nature to so many people, families, children and grandchildren, and schools that alone is a great success. Not to mention 2015 season 1 we had 2 successful birds that fledged from the nest for the first time and now 2016 all 3 birds fledged that’s pretty incredible. Disaster always seems to hit several osprey nests throughout the year so glad we only lost one in the year 2015 and we have more success than failures.

Recap of 2016 of The George & Gracie’s Nest
This Season 2 we have had a lot of new changes.
****
Our family added a new addition; Paul now has Aidan Mancini our computer specialist. Rob Bierregaard- Academy of Natural Sciences Drexel University our osprey specialist is with us again. Let’s not forget our Landlords Christine & Tommy. They have made it possible for giving Paul Henry the opportunity to give us the eye view of The George and Gracie Osprey Nest. That leads me with our very own Paul Henry, Osprey Zone is Sponsored by his business, Tax Reduction Services. We are so thankful for all of his time along with all his helpers and family we have the best site ever!

This Season 2 we are able to post pictures and videos. So many followers are posting pics for all to see when they come to our site.
We also have a date time stamp clock to the exact seconds. We still have the wonderful feature of four hour rewind live feed.

Before our birds arrived this season Paul, along with all his helpers lowered the tower where the nest is.
Secretly our landlord Tommy created a wonderful invention to clean the camera lens off, one of a kind.

Betsy made our first portraits of George & Gracie, along with Brutus, Ali, Rocky, also Ronnie and Sandy from Season 1 2015. Betsy made first videos on how to tell the difference between the three babies also how to tell the difference between George and Gracie for the newcomers. Betsy made first portraits of first fish caught by our babies.
Betsy, Leanne and some other OZ Followers were able to capture with all of their videos the amazing moments in Season 2 2016.
June C. started the 1st research on graphing the sounds and calls of our Osprey Family.
Carol V is our commentator and spokes lady on our day to day events she keeps us posted. Never boring, adding her flare with words and humor to brighten up our days. She along with several other OZ Followers has kept us informed about the types of fish and dangers us humans are doing to our environments.
She also gave us our daily weather reports for the nest.
Alizarin made our 1st calendar for 2017 with Season 1 and 2 pictures of both Families from the George & Gracie’s Nest. She also made Birthday card to Bre and Rjoneal.
Rjoneal and Besty did the 1st Egg Guess Hatch.
Osprey Zone (Paul Henry) awarded OZ money to be used at the OZ store for the winners in the Baby Naming Contest.
Rjoneal made the 1st Family Tree of our Osprey Family.
Paul Henry and all helpers made 1st shirt and merchandise available soon from the 1st Season 2015 G&G Family, Ronnie, Sandy, & PeeWee.
Bre is our poet and made several poems for our Osprey Family again this year.
Everyone did fish counts and got very creative on posting the info.
Gravatars pictures are being used now on Osprey Zone. Betsy made my famous Feather-Duster Gracie pic in frame.
Bob is still forever reminding us that you cannot predict nature to be prepared for anything to happen.
Betsy who we also call our own detective uncovered the TROLLS who for the 1st time visited our site.
All the Osprey Zone Followers post websites and info, share, educate, teach, everything there is about the Osprey Life. We have lots of books that have been posted for recommended reading over the winter months until our family comes home.
What a wonderful Season 2 we have had and I know Season 3 is even going to get better.